A court at a Vatican corruption trial on Thursday heard a secretly recorded telephone call between the main defendant, embattled Cardinal Angelo Becciu, and Pope Francis.

The recording was made without the pope's knowledge by someone in a room with Becciu in July 2021, shortly before the trial began and while the pope was still recovering from major intestinal surgery, the court was told.

Reporters were asked to leave the room while the tape was played but lawyers who heard it said Becciu asked the pope to confirm that the pontiff had authorised a payment to help release a nun who had been kidnapped in Africa.

The lawyers said that on the call pope seemed perplexed and confused by why Becciu was calling and that the pontiff repeatedly asked the cardinal to send him a written note about what he wanted.

In 2018, Becciu, then the third most powerful person in the Vatican, hired co-defendant Cecilia Marogna, a self-styled security analyst, to free a Columbian nun who was kidnapped in Mali by an al Qaeda-linked group.

Marogna, 44, received 575,000 euros ($598,630) from the Secretariat of State, the Vatican's most important department, in 2018 to 2019 when Becciu was working there. The money was sent to a company she had set up in Slovenia and she received some in cash, the court has been told.

The police discovered Marogna had spent much of the money for personal use, including luxury brand clothing and visits to health spas.

Reuters

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